The extreme heat may have kept a lot of people away from Canada Day events in the Capital, but organizers of the Barrhaven Canada Day party say they had fairly large crowd, some of whom became rowdy.
"They were throwing fireworks into the crowd," said organizer Darrell Bartraw. "We've heard they hit baby carriages, young kids, and adults. It was just crazy."
Bartraw says dozens of teenagers, both men and women, arrived at Clarke Fields sometime around 10 p.m. and began setting off fireworks in the crowd.
"We've never seen anything like this before," he said. " I don't know what we are doing to do. I would hate to cancel it because of a few hundred people that just want to do their own thing and don't know how to have a good time."
Social media posts on a Barrhaven Facebook page and on Reddit say, when police arrived, pepper spray had to be deployed to disperse the crowd.
Casey Doyle was amongst the crowd watching the 10:00 p.m. fireworks when a bang went off beside her.
"Everyone was screaming and running away," she said. "There were cops just looking for whoever did it. And it kept happening every five or ten minutes."
Doyle says the fireworks were going off beside little kids and their families.
"I'm so glad nobody was really hurt," she said.
Ottawa Paramedics say a 15-year-old was taken to hospital after they responded to a call about as many as 10 people being pepper-sprayed at Clarke Fields Sunday night.
Paramedics say they were called just after 11:00 p.m.
Organizers say they are looking at adding fences around the perimeter and even banning backpacks.
"This was just dangerous," said organizer John Scholam. "Seeing the kids take over was really frustrating ... a lot of families were just trying to have fun."
No other information was provided.
Ottawa Police have not responded to requests for comment.
